April 20, 2014

R for Rum Cake!!!

I first ate a fruit cake when I was in college. Our neighbors gave a piece of cake. It tasted different. I liked it. They said someone got it from Canada. And that it had brandy or whisky in it. I giggled. Alcohol? in Cake? Umm...I ate the plum cake available in bakeries many times and always loved it. Somehow, the piece of cake from canada stayed with me all these years.

As I have always frequented with cooking/baking experiments, I wanted to try the Pl(R)um cake. My search for the perfect recipe started. I found many recipes but none to my liking. Rather none sounded like the cake I am looking for. Finally, magic happened. I landed upon Manju's Blog. It had the perfect recipe.

Don't be scared on looking at the length of ingredients and the process. Now that I found the perfect recipe, I needed to get Rum. Unlike California, they don't sell alcohol in any store. I had to go to a beverage depot ( First time in my life have I gone to a liquor store). Got the Rum, soaked the dry fruits, waited patiently for the D-day and then baked it. The entire process to get the stuff ready takes one hour and then baking takes an hour.

I baked it twice and it came out good both the times. Once was for christmas and the 2nd time was for a school reunion. Friends at work would go Y(R)ummmm!!! The only step that I had difficulty was making the caramel syrup. It was a flop but I managed to do something called syrup and mixed it :)

Like you, I too remember a plum cake I ate at the home of a friend when I visited her for Christmas. That one time her cake was the best I ever ate. She was never able to get the exact taste again herself. My mouth is watering as I think of it. Ummmm...!

I make two types of rum cake -- one is my husband's favorite and an old family recipe. The other one is called 100 PROOF. It is incredible with 8 layers of whipped cream. Now, this post makes me want to make it again!